A desperate mother today called on the courts to lock up her tearaway son before he causes more trouble.

Dale Carter, 14, is Middlesbrough's youngest ASBO schoolboy after being hit with an order when he was just 13 for terrorising Pallister Park.

He escaped a four-month sentence in a young offenders' institution in April this year after breaching his anti-social behaviour order five times since it was imposed last May.

But after serving just 10 days in detention, he was released when justices sitting at Teesside Crown Court quashed the decision and opted for a community penalty.

Now his family are desperate for the courts to take action before Dale is too far off the tracks to change.

Mum Julie said: "I want him locked up. Nothing else is getting through to him. It is the only option. He hasn't left himself any others.

"I want to shock him out of this. I am absolutely devastated it has come to this.

"What does he have to do before they punish him?"

Julie, 40, and Dale's stepdad Stuart, 40, have lost count of the times he has been hauled before the courts for breaching his order - but he has escaped a custodial sentence every time.

The family, of Linmoor Avenue, Pallister Park are in constant contact with the police and the council over Dale and mum Julie thinks nothing of picking up the phone and telling them when Dale has broken the ASBO.

She wants nothing more than to have her son back on the straight and narrow as he was brought up in a good home.

But despite all their efforts and that of the local agencies and friends, for which they have nothing but praise, they feel the courts and solicitors are failing them.

She believes the easy way out would be to turf Dale out - but does not believe it is the right thing to do.

"That would be easy for some people but I don't want to see him out on the streets," she said.

Julie has resorted to tough love and her last hope lies in him being locked up, which she believes will curb his reckless behaviour before it is too late.

"I've always wanted the best for him. But he needs to be locked up for the safety of himself and other families on the estate.

"An ASBO has no power unless the courts enforce it. The courts aren't doing anything."

Dale's brief spell under lock and key came after a series of incidents including crashing his mother's car, possessing cannabis and calling a police community support officer a "chickenhead".

He was originally given the two-year order for terrorising Pallister Park residents. He had 120 incidents recorded against him over the last two years, including racing wheelchairs down the corridors of old people's accommodation.

Dale has a younger brother, Brad, 12, and sister Chloe, 17, and Julie worries about them.

"I don't think he realises the devastating effect this is having on his family," she said.